Living Environment Quality Determinants, Including PM2.5 and PM10 Dust Pollution in the Context of Spatial Issues—The Case of Radzionków

Abstract

This article discusses living environment determinants in Central and Eastern Europe. It is based on a case study of the city of Radzionków, which has 16 thousand inhabitants and is located in the Silesian agglomeration in southern Poland. Hard coal has been mined in this area for almost two hundred years, and it is the main fuel used for central heating. A total of 360 buildings, divided into groups of 60 buildings each, were investigated in the selected city. Three distinct areas were distinguished in terms of living environment quality, depending on building technical condition, heating method and location. These qualities were found to be largely determined by site-specific spatial and geophysical conditions. A significant portion of the literature was found to ignore the spatial factors mentioned in this paper, instead focusing primarily on statistical data concerning pollution. This study examines site-specific variables and presents differences in air pollution levels as examined in relation to the morphological structure of development, the degree of building modernisation and heating system types.

The Synergy of Ecosystems of Blue and Green Infrastructure and Its Services in the Metropolitan Area—Chances and Dangers

“…Outdoor recreation places are created or made more attractive, and health conditions are improved. Even a small number of plants can produce a relatively large amount of oxygen [16,17]: 155 m2 of green area produces enough oxygen for a person's daily oxygen demand. Greenery absorbs CO2 and dust, even as it cleans the air of harmful chemicals.…”

Architecture and Engineering: The Challenges—Trends—Achievements

“…The field research presented in [2] answers the questions of how urban planning and architecture, i.e., how spatial and geophysical conditions specific to a given place, may affect the quality of the living environment. The presented in-depth research in an industrial piedmont village relates to the morphological structure of buildings, the degree of their modernization, and types of heating systems.…”

“…This group of articles also includes article [2], discussed earlier, on field research. Classic laboratory test results are included in [16,17].…”

Renewable Energy Sources vs. an Air Quality Improvement in Urbanized Areas - the Metropolitan Area of Kraków Case

“…Reports of the European Environment Agency indicate Poland as a country in which significant exceedances of air quality standards are recorded. (Blazy, 2020;Poland Country Briefing, 2015). Compared to other European Union countries, Poland is the leader in greenhouse gas emissions (in particular carbon dioxide-according to WHO, Figures 1, 2) (International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), 2019; Tucki et al, 2019), which directly affects, inter alia, to bad air condition.…”